COUNTY WELLFIELD ORDINANCE TO MONITOR CONSTRUCTION

Drinking water can be poisoned by asphalt, roofing tar and other construction materials, so the development industry will have to be regulated along with other businesses in a wellfield protection ordinance, a Palm Beach County advisory board told builders Monday.

The wellfield ordinance now being drafted should include restrictions on the use of construction materials in much the same way it will limit use of industrial chemicals, said members of a Water Resources Management Advisory Board subcommittee.

Subcommittee members conceded that no individual construction job is likely to poison drinking water.

"But when you consider how much construction we have going on in the county, and how much construction will be going on, the cumulative effect (of spills) could be high," said James Brindell, chairman of the subcommittee.

Builders said they were willing to help work out a set of rules that would protect groundwater supplies.

"The construction industry is just as interested, if not more interested, in what you folks are doing as any other industry," said Jim Carr of the Palm Beach County Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association.

"What we don't want to see is a virtual end to construction in the area."

Brindell answered: "We don't want that either . . . Our purpose is not to keep the structures from being constructed."

The subcommittee agreed to set up a smaller panel of people familiar with construction methods and groundwater protection to work out a set of rules acceptable to builders and government officials.

Most wellfields appear to be in established urban areas, Brindell said. Therefore, the effect of the ordinance on the construction industry could be limited, Brindell said. But the pinpointing of locations where spilled chemicals can affect drinking water quality has not been completed yet.

The proposed law would require many businesses to move if they are in a spot where leaking chemicals could make their way into drinking water supplies in 30 days or less.